LECTURE 6

Farming system’s enterprises/components and their maintenance: Allied enterprises

SS RANA

SR SCIENTIST

Cattle maintenance

Breeds and Housing

� Dairy breeds: Sahiwal, Sindhi, Gir.

� Dual purpose: Hariana, Ongole and Kankrej.

� Exotic breeds: Jersey, Holstein Friesian, Aryshire, Brown Swiss and Guernsey.

� Buffaloes: Murrah, Nili Ravi, Mehsana, Suti, Zafrabadi, Godavari and Bhadawari.

� Housing: Each cow requires 12-18 sq m space and the buffaloes need 12-15 sq m. The floor should be rough and have gradient of 2.5 cm for every 25 cm length.

Breeding and maintenance

Cow: The cows remain in milk for 9-10 months, the average calvinginterval being 16-18 months. Require 6-8 weeks of dry period.Should ordinarily be bred during the second and third months aftercalving. Come to heat in more or less regular cycles of about 21 dayswhich lasts for about a day. The best time to serve a cow is duringthe last stage of heat. If artificially inseminated, a secondinsemination may be given within 6-8 hours after the firstinsemination. The gestation period is about 280 days.insemination. The gestation period is about 280 days.

Buffalo: the lactation period last for 7-9 months. She buffaloes cometo heat every 21-23 days. The gestation period is 310 days. Calfrearing is very important in the case of buffalo maintenance. Sincethey require abundant water, wallowing is required. Regular de-worming is needed for buffalo maintenance.

Under Indian conditions, cattle commonly mature at the age of about three years. This period can, however, be reduced by six months under well managed herd.

Feeding

� Feeding: Cattle feed generally contains fibrous, coarse, lownutrient straw material called roughage and concentrates.

� Roughages: Roughages are basic for cattle ration and includelegumes, non-legume hays, straw and silage of legume andgrasses.

� Concentrates: grains and byproducts of grains and oilseeds� Concentrates: grains and byproducts of grains and oilseedsconstitute the concentrates. These include cereals (maize,sorghum, oats, barley), cotton seeds, industrial wastes (branof wheat, rice, gram husk) and cakes of oilseeds (groundnut,sesame, rapeseed, soybean, linseed).

� Vitamins (A and D) and mineral mixtures (salt, Ca and P).

� The ration per animal per day: concentrates at 1 kg for 2 litresof milk, green fodder at 20-30 kg, straw 5-7 kg and water 32 l.

Goat rearing

Breeds

� There are nearly 102 breeds of goats in the world, of which 20 breeds are in India.

� Milk and Meat (dual purpose) – Osmanabadi, Barberi, Jamnapari, Sangamneri, Mehasa & Zalwadi, Beetal , Ajmeri & Kachhi . Zalwadi, Beetal , Ajmeri & Kachhi .

� Meat – Assam, Kali Bengali, Brown Bengali and Marwari.

� Wool – Angora, Gaddhi and Pashmina.

Housing

� Dry, comfortable, safe and secure place, free from worms and affording protection from excessive heat and inclement weather. The kitts are kept under large inverted baskets until they are old enough to run along with their mothers. Males and females are run along with their mothers. Males and females are generally kept together. The space requirement for a goat is 4.5 to 5.4 sq m.

Breeding and maintenance:

� Goat matures in about 6-7 months. Breeding isallowed for buck at one year and doe after 10 monthsof age. Gestation period is 145-155 days. It gives birthto 1-3 kitts per time. Number of evings are three per2 year. The kitts cane be weaned after 30-45 days.2 year. The kitts cane be weaned after 30-45 days.Mother can be allowed for mating 45-60 days aftereving. Once in five years, change the buck. When theyoung ones attain a body weight of about 25-30 kg inabout nine months, they can be sold.

Feeding

� They are essentially browsers and eat which anyother animals won’t touch. Goats eat 4-5 times thatof their body weight. Since the profit depends onweight addition, adequate protein and calorie shouldbe given to goats. They eat more of tree fodder andthe rest with other grass species. Goats should be fedthe rest with other grass species. Goats should be fedwith concentrates of maize, wheat, horse gram,groundnut cake, fish meal and wheat bran. Commonsalt and vitamin mixtures should also be added.Abundant clean fresh water should be madeavailable to the goats.

Sheep rearing

Breeds of Indian Sheep

1. The dry temperate Himalayan region: Gurez,Karanah, Bhakarwal, Gaddi, Rampur-Bushiar.

2. Dry western region: Lohi, Bikaneri, Marwahi,Kutchi, Kathiawari.

Southern region: Decani, Nellore, Bellary, Mandya,3. Southern region: Decani, Nellore, Bellary, Mandya,Bandur.

Breeding and maintenance

� One ram for 40-50 ewes. � Ewes in general do not come in heat at regular intervals but are seasonal in this respect.

� The duration of heat period is 1-3 days and 75% of ewes remain in heat for 21-39 hours.

� The optimum time of service is towards the end of heat � The optimum time of service is towards the end of heat period. Average heat interval is 18 days during the breeding season.

� The gestation period 142-152 days. � A normal ram is in full vigour for breeding from the age of 2⅟2-5 years.

� Sheep grow fully at two years of age and may be expected to produce about five crops of lambs.

Feeding

� 1-2 kg of leguminous hay per day depending on the age and body weight.

� Proteins may be supplied through concentrates (110-225 g) such as groundnut cake, sesame cake or safflower cake when the pastures are poor in legumes safflower cake when the pastures are poor in legumes or when scarcity conditions prevail.

� A mixture of common salt, ground limestone and sterilized bone meal in equal parts is required to alleviate deficiency of minerals in the feed.

Poultry

Breeds

� A majority of the stocks for egg production arecrosses involving the strains or inbred lines of whiteLeghorn.

� To a limited extent, other breeds like Rhode IslandRed, California Grey and Australop are used.Red, California Grey and Australop are used.

� Heavy breeds such as white Plymoth Rock, WhiteCornish and New Hampshire are used for cross-bredbroiler chickens.

� It is best to start with the day old chicks.

Housing

� Adequate space should be provided for the birds.Floor area of about 0.2 m2per adult bird is adequatefor light breeds such as white Leghorn and about0.3-0.4 m2 per bird for heavy breeds.

� The house should have good ventilation and� The house should have good ventilation andreasonably cool in summer and warm during winter.

Feed

� The feed conversion efficiency of the bird is far superior to otheranimals. About 60-70% of the total expenditure on poultry farmingis spent on the poultry feed.

� Some of the common feed stuffs used for making poultry ration inIndia are:

� Cereals: Maize, barley, oats, wheat, pearl millet, sorghum, rice-broken.broken.

� Cakes/meal: oil cakes, maize-gluten-meal, fish meal, meat meal,blood meal.

� Minerals/salt: Limestone, Oyster shell, salt, manganese.� From the day old to 4 weeks of age, birds are fed on starter ration

and thereafter finisher ration, which contain more energy and 18-20% protein. Feed may be given 2-3 times.

� Antibiotics and drugs may also be added to the poultry ration.Laying hens are provided with oyster shell or ground limestone.Riboflavin is particularly needed.

Maintenance

� Vaccination against Ranikhet diseases with F1 Strainvaccine within the first 6-7 days of age.

� One drop of vaccine may be administered in the eye andnostril.

� When chicks get the optimum body weight of 1.0-1.5around six weeks, they can be marketed for broiler.When chicks get the optimum body weight of 1.0-1.5around six weeks, they can be marketed for broiler.

� Hens may be retained upto the age of 1⅟2 years.

� One hen is capable of laying 180-230 eggs in a yearstarting from the sixth month.

� In addition, a laying hen produces about 230 g of freshdroppings (75% moisture) daily.

� Piggery

� Rabbit rearing

� Bee keeping

� Aqaculture� Aqaculture

Pond

� The depth of pond should be 1.5 to 2.0 m. � Clay soils are best suited for fish rearing. � Pond water should have appropriate proportion of nutrients,

phosphate (0.2 -0.4 ppm), nitrate (0.06-0.1 ppm) and dissolved oxygen (5.0-7.0).

� Water should be slightly alkaline (pH 7.5-8.5). � Water should be slightly alkaline (pH 7.5-8.5). � Application of fresh dung may also reduce high pH in the

water.� Soil of the pond should be tested for N and P content. If the

nutrient content is less, fertilizers can be added. � Organic manures such as FYM and poultry droppings may

also be applied to promote the growth of phyto and zooplanktons.

Species of fish:

� Catla (Catla catla) is the fast growing fish. It is mainly a surface and column feeder.

� Rohu (Labeo rohita) is a column feeder and feeds on growing plants, decomposing vegetation, large colonial algae, zooplanktons and detritus to a small extent.

� Calbasu (Labio calbasu) is a common feeder on detritus.� Mrigal (Cirrhimus mrigale) is a bottom feeder, taking detritus to a large

content, diatoms, filamentous and other algae and higher plants.content, diatoms, filamentous and other algae and higher plants.� Common carp (Cyprinus cario) is a bottom feeder and omnivorous. � Silver carp (Hypophthalmichlthys molitrix) is mainly a surface and

phytoplankton-feeder and also feeds on microplants.� Grass carp (Cyernus carpia) is a specialized feeder on aquatic plants, cut

grass and vegetable matter. It is also a fast growing exotic fish.� Poly fish culture: The phytofagous fish (Catla, rohu and mrigal) can be

combined with omnivorous (Common Carp), plankton- feeder (silver Carp) and mud eaters (Mrigal and Calbasu) in a composite fish culture system.

Management

� The fish are to be nourished with supplementary feeding with rice brands and oilseed cakes.

� Each variety of carps could be stocked to 500 fingerlings with the total of 5000-8000 per ha.

This stocking density will enable to get a maximum � This stocking density will enable to get a maximum yield of 2000-5000 kg/ha of fish annually.

� Sericulture

� Mushroom cultivation

� Biogas plant

� Duck rearing� Duck rearing

� Turkey rearing

� Pigeons for meat

� Japanese quail

� Vemicomposting

� Agroforestry